Allerthorpe Woods

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to the car park at Allerthorpe for some close encounters with the common birds at the feeders.
This year the photos are given a festive feel with the recent weather making for some nice shots.
Some of the robins were coming as close as 2ft.
I had a walk around the reserve and elsewhere there was very little activity disappointingly there were no crossbills or bramblings.
In the trees around the car park was a shy jay and a great spotted woodpecker and a couple of fieldfare flying over.
Other than that it was very quiet.

Winter Solstice

The shortest day of the year provided some superb opportunities to capture mid winter.
Allerthorpe woods was particularly spectacular and the birds (albeit only common species were very obliging some coming as close as 2ft.

Out and About

Not been able to postjust lately because of some problems with the blog.
Thankfully they are now sorted.
Went over to Chowder ness a couple of weeks ago for the red necked phalarope.
It was quite blustery and dull, but still managed a couple of decent shots.
i went again yesterday for the bearded tits they showed first thing but the light was poor.They didn't come back again within the 2 hours I waited.
I went round to theHotel Pit and there was a superb male smew always distant but as the sun was dropping the light was fantastic.
I managed a couple of hours at South landing today.
The water pipit was quite mobile at first then once it settled down to feed was quite obliging.

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Water Pipit

Smew

Smew

Rock Pipit

Kestrel

Bearded Tit

Red necked Phalarope

Snow Bunting

I went down to Spurn at the wekend specifically for a snow bunting shot and i wasn't disappointed.
I went to the spot where they had been reported at saw one straight away.
At first it was alittle wary but after a while it became quite confiding.
It was interesting to watch it creeping about amongst the weeds it almost looked like a little mouse.
On a fairly quiet day I was pleased to get these shots.

Jack Snipe

I had set jack snipe as one of my target birds for this winter so with an afternoon off wrok I set off for canal scrape at Kilnsea.This was my second attempt at jack snipe this year.
When I got to the hide there was a small crowd fixated on a small patch of reeds to the left of the hide.
About 15m away there was a rather motionless jack snipe that 'had been in that position for the last 3 hours'.
I got a few shots of it as it was then after about an hour it began to feed, curiously bobbing along as it went.
A couple of times it came out in the open allowing for some decent shots.
The light was not good and coupled with its constant movement made a sharp shot a little difficult, however I was extremely happy with the shots.
Coupled up with some good company in the hide it made for a most enjoyable afternoon.

Red Flanked Bluetail

Although I didn't manage any shots, I thought this bird deserved a mention.
Went for a look around Holmpton yesterday dinner time and didn't see much apart from a couple of reed buntimg.
It was probably too blustery.
On the way back to the car I got an alert confirming a red flanked bluetail at the Crown and Anchor.
On arriving, the bird had been trapped and ringed and released near the canal scrape.
A quick dash along the bank to the crowd eagerly awaiting a re-appearance.
I waited just over an hour with no sign so set off back to the car (it was getting chilly).I had a quick look back at the last few bushes near the fence line and there it wa sat up on some dead brambles, the views weren't great but I watched it flicking about for a couple of minutes.Then a big crowd descended and it seemed to disappear.
It was good enough for me a proper Siberian mega.Superb.